My Foolish Heart (1949) User Reviews

A heart-wrenching love story.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 23 August 2001]

Brooklyn born Susan Hayward had a 30 year career playing tough broads who hid a heart of gold underneath a steel exterior. "My Foolish Heart" is a wartime drama in which Hayward tells her story in flashback after admitting that she was once a nice girl. We then see her meeting soldier Dana Andrews, a handsome young man she falls head over heels in love with. War breaks out, and the two are torn apart. To say more would reveal plot twists best kept for a first viewing.

However, what I will say is that don't let Hayward's hardness at the beginning of the film fool you: she is a truly vulnerable character capable of loving. The writers have created a very believable leading heroine, plus some wonderful supporting characters. Especially good is Robert Keith as her lovable dad who has a whiny wife (Jessie Royce Landis) to contend with.

The scenes between Hayward and her parents are very well written, and almost as good as the love story itself. Andrews, although somewhat of a wooden actor, instills his character with warmth and charm that make the viewer understand why Hayward would fall so desperately in love. This is a top grade romantic drama for which Hayward was deservedly nominated for an Oscar. Its a shame that Keith was overlooked. There are some private scenes between Keith and Hayward that are truly riveting. Highly recommended!

In which a doomed wartime love affair echoes down the years..

[ianlouisiana · 8/10 · 16 November 2008]

J.D.Salinger is perhaps not quite so revered here in the U.K.as he is in his own country.I came upon his works in my early twenties,perhaps a little too old to become in thrall to them.Nonetheless I can understand that college - age middle - class Americans might well find in him the vicarious expression of their developing literary sensibilities. His writings are determinedly rooted in American Culture and have more resonance to those familiar with it rather than its European counterpart. Innocence,poignancy,lost love,adolescent rites of passage,these are all universal themes,but somehow seemed fresher when expressed by a sharp eye from the optimistic,young and energetic New World. Many of Salinger's admirers are clearly unhappy with the way Hollywood turned "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" into "My Foolish Heart" but this disapproval shouldn't be allowed to distract you from the fact that it is a very good picture indeed,a superior product with excellent performances and arguably one of the most beautiful and romantic title - songs ever written.Mr D.Andrews,too often dismissed as merely a reliable second lead,is outstanding as the Army officer who shares a passionate ill - fated wartime affair with Miss S. Hayward.Miss Hayward,also - unjustly - not much remembered nowadays, will give you some idea why she was highly regarded in an era when leading ladies were far thicker on the ground than they are today. Despite being ostensibly happily married as the movie starts,Mr Andrews was the great love of her life and she has been in decline since his disappearance.The story of their affair is told in flashback.Just the sort of thing Hollywood used to excel at,it is an unashamed tear - jerker and none the worse for it. Don't let some strange sense of intellectual snobbery prevent you from enjoying "My Foolish Heart" for what it is - a jolly good picture.

Crying Uncle

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 20 February 2017]

The word on the street is that J.D. Salinger was so outraged about what Hollywood did to his short story Uncle Wiggily In Connecticut that he refused point blank to let Hollywood near any of his work despite the astronomical fees they were prepared to pay. Frankly I don't get it. I've read the story in question (which appeared originally in The New Yorker and was collected in Nine Stories or, if you live in the UK, For Esme, With Love And Squalor) and whilst I accept that the Epstein twins did adapt it 'freely' I am able to enjoy both story and film and mine their respective merits. Any movie that boasts a title song as gorgeous as the one fashioned by Victor Young and Ned Washington has a head start on the opposition and when you add a screenplay by the Epstein twins, direction by Mark Robson and a cast to die for you're in the homestretch before the competition are out of the starting stalls. If this had been shot in color and released by Universal audiences would be forgiven for thinking it was by Douglas Sirk in the heart of his 'four-hankie' phase but it isn't Sirk and it IS classy. Watch. Enjoy.

Saved by Susan Hayward & Dana Andrews

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 25 January 2011]

There's nothing wrong with this film. It's a "good" movie. The problem with the film, in my opinion, is expressed by Mary Jane (Lois Wheeler) in the last few minutes of the film -- that all that happened could have happened to anybody. There's nothing exceptional about the plot here, except perhaps for the last 10 minutes (sorry, no spoiler here).

So, if its not the plot, what's good about this movie? Well, I just re-watched this film after 9 years, and I've changed my mind a bit. I still give it a "7", but it's a weak "7"...not as strong as I saw it before. Perhaps I was fooled by my general liking of Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews. But before I said their performances were "superb". Now I would say they were "run of the mill". Not bad. Just average.

This is not the forceful Susan Hayward I enjoy...but still good in a rather subdued role. For Dana Andrews, this was one of the last of his great films before he sunk into alcoholism, which led to a decline into B films (and lower). In addition to the performances of the two stars, I quite enjoyed the role of the father, as played by Robert Keith (who I just discovered was the father of Brian Keith). Keith was a fine character actor, and this was one of his stronger roles. And, best friend Mary Jane (Lois Wheeler) is an actress that I am not familiar with, but who does a really nice job here. Jessie Royce Landis. here as the mother, is one of those character actresses that you always enjoy seeing, even if you never know her name.

I'm glad to have seen this film, but as I said before, I won't be adding this one to my DVD collection...and probably won't watch it a third time around.

Okay romance but Dana Andrews miscast

[xdestry-11318 · 6/10 · 27 August 2020]

Never read the short story but the script itself is okay and the acting's fine. The only problem I had with the film is that Dana Andrews, who's a fine actor in my book, looks and sounds far too old to play the role of what I think is supposed to be a young man in his mid- to late twenties, a character who's not all that much older than the Susan Hayward character. In my opinion, DA looks and speaks like a world weary, self-deprecating individual of say, forty to forty-five years old, maybe divorced, with the deep voice of long time smoker, and not someone at that age desperate enough to enlist in the Army Air Corps. DA is one of those actors who naturally play older, and at the actual age of forty in 1949, isn't quite believable in this particular role.

A fine film and a super performance for Susan Hayward

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 16 April 2007]

This was a very good, though not great movie about a wartime romance. However, it does stand apart from similar films for two reasons--Miss Hayward's performance and the excellent and unexpected ending.

First, let's talk about Susan Hayward. Years ago, I saw her Oscar-winning performance for I WANT TO LIVE and I thoroughly hated the film, as her acting was so far over the top and silly that I felt she deserved a Razzie Award and NOT the Oscar. You'd just have to see it to believe how bad it was. And, as a result of this film, I used to think she couldn't act--after all, if this was her BEST performance, then I was afraid what a lesser performance might be like!! However, after seeing other films she made, such as I'LL CRY TOMORROW and MY FOOLISH HEART, I realize she was a really good actress. In this film, I was completely bowled over when Miss Hayward began producing real tears during a very emotional scene. This was amazing and you've got to respect this.

Second, in the end, it would have been easy to give the film a schmaltzy ending and have everyone live happily ever after--but they fortunately did not do this. Instead, you learned how Miss Hayward got the the point where she was an alcoholic and no longer capable of taking care of her daughter. While not "FUN", this made for a good and effective drama--nearly earning an 8.

my favourite film

[vsh-bug · 10/10 · 31 January 2005]

The first time I ever saw this wonderful film I was about twelve. It was late at night and everyone else had gone to bed and I was thinking maybe I should too, but then this came on and I was hooked. I've seen this film many times since then and yet each time I watch it again it never fails to get an emotional response out of me i.e I ball my eyes out!...and us Brits have a stiff upper lip you know! They just don't make them like they used too and that's a shame.It's a great storyline, great acting and the line 'poor uncle wiggly' isn't dead in our house! Dana Andrews is yummy in it too. I cannot recommend this film strongly enough..watch it and it will always stay with you.

A superior example of the 'woman's picture'.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 9 September 2020]

There isn't a great deal of J. D. Salinger's short story "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" left in Mark Robson's supposed film version "My Foolish Heart" but it's a superior example of the 'woman's picture' nevertheless, thanks almost entirely to a superb Susan Hayward as the unhappily married woman recalling her first love, (Dana Andrews, always a good bet). The director was Mark Robson and it's one of his better pictures while the Epstein's (Julius J. and Philip G.) did the screenplay, again a good sign. Hayward was Oscar-nominated, as was the famous title song which, in its many incarnations, has outlived the film. No classic, then, but an intelligent and likeable picture that deserves to be better known.

Total wartime romance--Andrews and Hayward are perfect

[secondtake · 9/10 · 21 March 2011]

My Foolish Heart (1949)

Boy this one is under the radar. Talk about high drama, and with the start of WWII at the center of it. I can only imagine how many people weeped at this one in 1949 because the main story is the flashback of a woman who had a romance go wrong, and surely half the audience had their romances go wrong at the start of the war.

Dana Andrews is his cool, charming, warm, funny best, with that usual holding back all the time that makes him slow to like and easy to love. Susan Hayward shows the range she had, from cold, selfish conniver to warm and bubbly innocent. Quite a remarkable pair of performances, and a plot that circles around on itself nicely. The screen writing was by the famous Epstein brothers, who also wrote the core of "Casablanca" (another movie about the start of America's involvement in the war), and there are some zingers here. And some over the top weepy lines, too.

If this movie isn't archetypal or classic, it's only because a few small things don't fully click. One of them might be the all-too-ordinary scenes--there is nothing bigger than life here except the story itself, which of course is meant to be familiar and not bigger than life at all, yet it is because it's so dramatic. There are secondary actors who hold up in varying degrees. Robert Keith plays Hayward's father with total sympathy, but Jessie Royce Landis as her mother is a bit of her usual caricature, not quite fitting in here (except for some light comedy). Kent Smith is a perfect second man, the "good" man who is more honor than charm, but still likable, and Lois Wheeler is a great if somewhat predictable second woman, also all goodness.

But the story, as ordinary as the elements of it are on purpose, grows in its intensity scene by scene until a slightly sudden and convenient wrap.

This is a great one, really, especially if you like films of the period dealing with the war from the home front perspective. There are a few scenes sprinkled through the film that touch on archetypal America--a football game, and a radio announcement saying that a ship had been hit in Pearl Harbor, and good old Grand Central Station. Don't miss this one.

Salinger's thoughts

[003507 · 7 June 2003]

One reason there was never a _Catcher in the Rye_ movie is that after Salinger saw what they did to his story "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" when they adapted it for this soap opera, he never again sold rights to a story to Hollywood.

Falls Apart

[hcoursen · 6/10 · 16 April 2008]

This one falls apart when Susan Hayward must completely change her character to fulfill the dictates of the script. Sorry, that's not who she's been, but to be specific would be to utter a "spoiler." One can understand certain kinds of destructive behavior after a personal disaster, but not what happens here. Interestingly, at college the girls are studying 'Romeo and Juliet' and the line 'Romeo, banished!' emerges. The film is not a 'Romeo and Juliet' variation, except in that wartime exigencies separate the lovers. They are victims of forces over which they have no control. The song is one of the great ones and was a huge hit for Billy Eckstein. It is sung in the film by Martha Meers, who had done the vocals for the likes of Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Sonja Heine, and Veronica Lake. Unfortunately, the final phase of this film, seemingly tacked on for the sake of lengthening it, erases the credibility of what has gone before.

"It's Love, This Time It's Love, My Foolish Heart"

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 25 January 2011]

This film will inevitably get a favorable review from me because it has two things going for it, two things that the Motion Picture Academy recognized. The first was one of the best movie songs ever written and the second was the Oscar nominated performance of its star Susan Hayward who was just entering her prime years as a movie star.

We meet Susan as she's taken to drink and husband Kent Smith has had just about enough of her. Susan has taken to abusing her daughter Gigi Perreau and Smith wants a divorce. She's willing to give it, but not custody of Perreau. As she's talking with her friend Lois Wheeler who was going out with Smith before Hayward took him away in a whirlwind wartime romance the film flashes back to their story or more properly the story of Hayward's real true love from the war, Dana Andrews.

She meets Andrews at a party where a whole lot of serviceman are crashing, welcome though they be. It was the period just before Pearl Harbor when we had built up our armed forces in anticipation that we would be in World War II, just a question of when. She's going to school and her romance with Andrews gets her kicked out which upsets mother, Jessica Royce-Landis, but father Robert Keith remembers his days from World War I and kind of takes to Andrews.

I can't say much more lest I do spoilers, but given the basic facts of the characters I've just laid out, you can probably figure the rest of the plot out.

Dana Andrews during his career in the Forties and Fifties made a specialty of playing Mr. Average Man. My Foolish Heart shows him in that vein as a performer. He and Hayward are a perfect representation of young America in that period.

As for Hayward we see the reason, the genesis of her evolution as an alcoholic in an unhappy marriage. Susan took out a patent on tough, but also romantic and tragic heroines beginning with Smash-Up and continuing on to her career capstone and Oscar winning performance in I Want To Live. She got her second Best Actress nomination for My Foolish Heart, but lost in the Oscar sweepstakes to Olivia DeHavilland for The Heiress.

By the way as good as her scenes with Andrews are, some of Hayward's best work ever on cinema are with Robert Keith. She was obviously Daddy's Little Girl as a child and she and Keith play beautifully off each other.

As for the song as cute as Baby It's Cold Outside is which was the winner for Best Song in 1949, I cannot believe that Victor Young and Ned Washington did not win for the title song of this film. It's been recorded by a whole gang of singers, the recordings I have of it are from Andy Williams and Dick Haymes and a bootleg from one of Bing Crosby's radio broadcasts. I daresay it would get to the top of the charts today even albeit with a more modern arrangement.

My Foolish Heart is one of the great romantic films ever done and definitely in the top percentage of the work of Susan Hayward.

Miscasting dates this movie production

[manya62692 · 6/10 · 10 July 2022]

A product of the studio system that results in a ridiculous movie in the long run. It was a Terrible idea to cast middle aged actors play teenagers and young adults. In 1949 Lew Wengler was played by a 42-year old. Dana Andrews was 40 and Susan Hayward was 32.

The studio system was able to provide high production values due to their ability to finance movies but sometimes at the expense of credibility in casting roles because only established older actors in contract played leads.

Not surprising that JD Salinger never allowed another work to be made into a movie after this one due to storyline changes.

Susan plays another tough gal with a heart of gold...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 1 January 2007]

Based on J.D. Salinger's short story, "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut", the story has been revamped into an unabashedly sentimental soap opera with a wartime background (WWII) and turned into a tear-jerker for SUSAN HAYWARD and DANA ANDREWS. It uses the favorite device of '40s-era romantic dramas, the flashback, to tell how Susan meets and falls in love with soldier Andrews, a bittersweet affair that ended when he died at the front.

The story is framed by the present, with Susan married to KENT SMITH (an actor who always played second leads despite his enormous talent and good looks), a rocky marriage that forces Susan to remember what true love felt like during her brief affair with Andrews.

It's a sudsy affair with Susan as a strong-willed woman, tough on the exterior but supposedly warm-hearted beneath (the kind of role she almost always played) and she did get an Oscar nomination for her starring role opposite Andrews--but it was a year when Olivia de Havilland was tough competition for THE HEIRESS.

Hayward fans consider this one of her best, while J.D. Salinger fans resent what Hollywood did to his short story by turning it into a weepie for women who liked their wartime stories to be deeply romantic.

Victor Young's popular tune, a haunting ballad called "My Foolish Heart", adds to the romantic sentiments of an already tender story.

My Foolish Heart

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 4 January 2023]

Now there is one slight problem we have to be prepared to overlook with this movie. Both stars are just way too attractive to have ever, plausibly, been in the scenario we are about to see. Forget that for a hour or so and what we have is well worth a watch. Susan Hayward is really good in this wartime melodrama as the now rather drunken "Eloise", stuck in an unhappy marriage. After one such binge with old school friend "Mary Jane" (Doris Wheeler) she falls asleep and her dream takes her back to happier times with "Walt" (Dana Andrews). This somnial retrospective explains to us quite how she has got herself into her current predicament; how she met (and lost) her beau, her best friend, got married, had a daughter etc. Dana Andrews is that handsome WWII naval officer who, along with some of his pals, crashes a party where he meets the younger "Eloise". They date for a while but her mother (Jessica Royce-Landers) is not keen and when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour, everyone's life is turned upside down... Now, the way the story is being told to us reveals from the start that this is not a film with an happy ending, so we ought not to expect a complex plot - this is a love story that epitomises so many a young couple brought together and driven asunder by war. Hayward plays her character powerfully. Sometimes playful and mischievous, sometimes angry and frustrated - but always with conviction and that is what draws, and keeps, our attention. Andrews is fine, he does his job well enough but his character doesn't have anything like as much to work with as the star, and in this film Hayward is most certainly that. It has a few potent scenes with Brian Keith - her dad "Henry", and there is, of course, that beautiful Victor Young/Ned Washington title song that though maybe repeated just once or twice too often (usually in instrumental refrain) is icing on the cake for this superior story of how one gets onto the slippery slope.

One of the most miscast movies ever made--and a complete triumph!

[17268 · 10/10 · 30 March 2007]

Susan Hayward foolish? Dana Andrews a can't-get-a-date loser? No, I didn't think so either. But they are both so good in their roles that they no only make the film work, they make it a triumph. Hayward was nominated for an Oscar, as was Victor Young's glorious title-song. Both Hayward and Young should have won.

"My Foolish Heart" is essentially a "woman's film," a label that is frequently pejorative. (But then so is "Gone with the Wind.") What makes "Heart" so transcendent, besides Hayward and Andrews, is that the entire film is so well-crafted. The dialog is first rate--by turns poignant, rueful, comic, and sarcastic--from the Epstein twins of "Casablanca" fame. Mark Robson's direction is spot-on, and he has a great cast to work with. As Hayward's father, Robert Keith contributes a beautifully shaded performance. Kent Smith and Lois Wheeler are sympathetic as two who are injured bystanders. In her film debut, Jessie Royce Landis creates the first of her flighty women who are much more than they initially seem.

Victor Young's song is reprised several times during the film and was one of the first title-songs to achieve popularity. It is especially well used in the scene near the end when Hayward is waiting for Kent Smith to bring her a drink. She hits all her marks beautifully, and the song is stunningly used as background.

I doubt that any attempt at a remake would be nearly as successful as the original. They don't make 'em like his any more--no nudity, no questionable language, no violence: just top-notch acting, writing, direction, all set to a marvelous Victor Young score.

And it should be noted that Hayward, despite her Oscar and four other nominations is regrettably underrated and largely forgotten today. Andrews never was given his due when he was alive, and he had an impressive body of work-- for example, "Laura" and "The Best Years of Our Lives" (especially his scene in the moth-balled bomber)--that put him at the forefront of talented leading men of the Forties and Fifties.

The Girl in the Brown and White Dress!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 5 May 2011]

"I might hit you"!!! "So what - I'm insured"!!! - Love that line and of course just love Susan Hayward in this simply fantastic movie!! Such a typical Hayward line with the emphasis on the "I'm"!!! The movie didn't open to much enthusiasm, with Bosley Crowther complaining about too much "dewy rapture". He also felt Susan Hayward was wrong for the part - how wrong he was!!! Most of the critics hopped on the "bastardization of "Uncle Wiggley" bandwagon. J. D. Salinger vowed never to sell anymore of his writings to Hollywood - how could one mere movie bear up under all this criticism. Apparently he objected to the name change but who would go to a movie entitled "Uncle Wiggley in Connecticut" - unless they were avid Salinger fans!!!

Even though Susan had just turned 30 she was completely believable in the "college girl waiting for a first date" atmosphere and the biggest stretch was Dana Andrews as a dateless outsider but he pulled it off.

Eloise (Susan Hayward) drinks too much and she treats her nice husband (Kent Smith) like dirt, but he is planning his revenge - he wants to divorce her and take custody of their daughter, Ramona (Gigi Perreau). A glimpse of a brown and white dress in the closet brings back the memories of a school dance and her first meeting with Walt Dreiser (Dana Andrews). Her brown and white dress "the latest thing in Boise" is nowheresville in New York. Walt comes to her rescue and in a funny scene gives Miriam Ball (Karin Booth), the most popular girl in college, a complete dressing down. Walt invites Eloise to his flat and tries all the moves that usually work. When Walt proclaims he likes El a whole lot, she replies she wishes he "liked me just a little. Enough to take me home and call me for another date". Susan Hayward could bring both toughness and vulnerability to her roles - in almost the same scene. She made this more than just a mushy wartime romance. Special mention should also go to Robert Keith. His scenes with Hayward show understanding and rapport - he is not a one dimensional cut out father figure. There is great feeling in the scene where he describes his loveless marriage and how the children acted as a vice to keep him trapped. Keith excelled as sincere but ultimately weak men (the sheriff in "The Wild One").

Even a character like Mary Jane, the ever present "noble" girl who stands by and sees the man she loves (Smith) forced into a sham marriage, comes across as believable and true. At the film's end, Eloise, the old brown and white dress gripped in her hands, realises that she has ruined five lives and bravely decides to confess everything and face the future with her little girl. This was director, Mark Robson's third hit in a row - after "Champion" and "Home of the Brave".

Highly, Highly Recommended.

Unforgettable Romance

[Elizabeth-40 · 10/10 · 7 December 1999]

Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews will take you to the heights of joy and deepest despair as two lovers who are forced to live a lifetime in a few weeks as America enters World War II. As the film begins, the war is over and Eloise Winters (Hayward) is married to college sweetheart Lou Wengler (Kent Smith). A visit from college roommate Mary Jane (Lois Wheeler) prompts Hayward to relive the wartime memory of her true love, Walt Dreiser (Andrews). You will be enchanted by Andrews and Hayward's first meeting when sparks fly and an extremely handsome, charming Andrews sweeps Hayward off her feet to the tune of Victor Young's heart stirring theme. I dare say no man looked better on the 1940s screen than the sophisticated, yet easy-going Dana Andrews in this film. Nominated for an Academy Award, Hayward is exceptional in her ability to wear her emotions as a woman deeply in love. Don't miss whimsical moments with outstanding characters actors Robert Keith and Jessie Royce Landis as Hayward's parents. Based on a story by J.D. Salinger, "My Foolish Heart" is a fine film to curl up with on a rainy Sunday afternoon to relive the first blush of your one true love.

flashback structure

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 31 August 2019]

Unhappy housewife Eloise Winters (Susan Hayward) is visited by old friend Mary Jane. There is a suggestion about Eloise's daughter Ramona and another man named Walt Dreiser (Dana Andrews). Her husband Lew Wengler is not happy either and threatens to take away Ramona. Eloise recalls happier days when she met her true love during the war.

The unhappy marriage is actually interesting. The true romance is less so. It also doesn't help that the story is told in flashback. Those are usually less compelling unless the structure injects something special. I kept thinking the divorce and fight over Ramona would be more compelling and more dramatic to watch. The love story struggles to gain traction. Its doom is expected and its drama comes off somewhat soapy. The melodrama is almost old fashion. The heat in the relationship is not as effective as expected. There is a possibility that the expectation is too high for this projected perfect love. That is why I think the idea of this love is more compelling than the actual telling of this love. Quite frankly, simple little flashbacks would be enough as Eloise and Lew have their divorce battles. This is trying for something artistically. I think it fails.

My Foolish Heart- Susan Hayward Triumphs Again ****

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 2 April 2008]

When I saw Susan Hayward in "My Foolish Heart," I immediately thought back to her other successes "With A Song in My Heart," and "I'll Cry Tomorrow." There are so many similarities in her acting, especially at the beginning of Foolish Heart. She even brushed her hair the same way as in "Tomorrow."

As always, Susan Hayward got the role of the troubled woman. She evokes such sympathy in this particular role as Eloise, a woman who recounts a tragic love affair at the start of World War 11.

Dana Andrews, a very fine actor, is perfect for the part of her ill-fated lover.

Special acting kudos should also go to Robert Keith for his portrayal of her understanding father. Keith was quite a good actor. He really was in top-notch films. Besides this gem, he was Barney Loomas in "Love Me or Leave Me" and the doomed father to Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone in "Written on the Wind."

Notice that the term pregnancy is not used in the film. I guess that in 1949 we didn't talk of women being pregnant while not being married.

Unfortunately, this movie would probably be regarded as corny today but 1949 was such a different world in movie history.

One of Heyward's best

[sgramalia · 10/10 · 21 November 2014]

I have this movie on Laser Disk. It has been and continues to be one of my all time favorites. I've been waiting YEARS for this to come out on DVD but alas no go as of yet. I have almost all of Susan Heyward's films and this is still my favorite. She plays against type in her soft portrayal of a young woman in love. Chemistry between Heyward and Andrews is great. You can actually believe that they love each other. Robert Keith plays Heyward's father and turns in his best performance. Even though done in a studio the movie has a genuine "New York" feel. And of course the song...which I guarantee once you hear it you'll be humming or singing it all day long. My Laser copy of this movie is very good I just don't know how much longer my laser disk player will hold out. Why no DVD??

Good acting and a great song

[jjnxn-1 · 9/10 · 11 May 2013]

Sentimental wartime drama with Oscar nominated Susan Hayward strong in the lead. She certainly makes Eloise's transformation from a nice young woman full of hope to the bitter drunk she becomes compelling and isn't afraid to also be unlikable as some actresses might. Dana Andrews is fine as her love interest but the strongest supporting performance comes from Robert Keith as Susan's father. This includes a scene that is surprisingly frank for the times dealing with hasty wartime marriages and the realities once the war is over. Based on the only J.D. Salinger story he ever allowed to be adapted, he hated the results, its not a great film but certainly an enjoyable one particularly if you are a Hayward fan.

Good Story - Bad Movie (contains spoiler)

[pmmacdonell-459-527156 · 1/10 · 6 December 2013]

I would not have watched this if I didn't like the short story by Salinger. I'm not a fan of black and white melodramas from the 40s and 50s. So I gave it a one not only because it changed the story into something else but the something else was very bad.

Here's a comparative example of awfulness:

At the end of the story Eloise is crying to her old friend and very nice Mary Ann about feeling a loss of her old self, her kinder self. There's more to it than that about loss and how she's trapped.

At the end of the movie Eloise is crying to Mary Ann who just stole her husband. Mary Ann has to steal Eloise's husband because Eloise drinks alcohol or something. Mary Ann is not presented as the horrible person she obviously is. Eloise says the same thing about feeling a loss of her old self. But I'm pretty sure that her grief is not about her loss of her sense of self or true love but about the loss of her virginity. Mary Ann decides to be nice to Eloise and lets Eloise keep custody of her own child. But still steals her husband.

After this, I don't blame Salinger for not wanting Hollywood to touch "Catcher in the Rye."

One of Ms. Hayward's best.

[bravesfaninco · 10/10 · 21 September 2001]

As a fan of Susan Hayward's, this is one of her best films. I still cry every time I see it. The story is timeless and touching. A must see!

A Broken heart

[tomsview · 8/10 · 2 February 2014]

"My Foolish Heart" is far better than the critics acknowledged in 1949, and offers something else that wouldn't have been apparent when first released.

Films made during and just after WW2 give us an insight into what people experienced at the time in a unique way. Although we have plenty of documentaries that show what happened, the movies are more personal, and work on a different emotional level - we identify with the stars and through them a window is opened on the past.

When an old friend, Mary Jane (Lois Wheeler), visits Eloise Winters, played by Susan Haywood, she reflects on the events that led to her present unhappiness. Years earlier, Eloise was engaged to Lewis Wengler (Kent Smith). Although he was in love with her, she sought something he couldn't provide. At a dance, she meets Walt Dreiser played by Dana Andrews with whom she has immediate chemistry. They fall in love, but the war intervenes and changes their lives.

Maybe the stars were a bit too old for their parts, but their performances easily made up for it. Susan Haywood's career was studded with great performances, but she tapped an inner truth in this film. Dana Andrews was not a particularly animated actor, but when the role suited his rather controlled persona, as this one does, he was perfect.

"My Foolish Heart" has a number of strands. Mary Jane is Eloise's friend, and saves her from committing a hurtful act, but their relationship is complex. Eloise's relationship with her parents also seems a little strained, especially with her mother, but it is strengthened by the arrival of Walt, although it doesn't appear that way at first. Kent Smith's character ends up with the woman he loves, but it's definitely a case of be careful what you wish for.

The film shows that death in war can occur quite randomly - simply by accident. However, the victims are killed by the war just as surely as if their plane had been shot down over Germany or their ship torpedoed in the South Pacific.

Eloise is also a casualty of the war.

Although critics at the time dismissed this as just another "weepie", and even the director, Mark Robson, disowned the film, it was a box office success. It goes to show that the public saw more in it than the critics, and artists aren't necessarily the best judges of their own work.

"My Foolish Heart" has an unusual love story and is an insightful look at how the loss of a loved one can affect the rest of a person's life; after WW2, I think plenty of people would have identified with Eloise.